Chapter Two:
Miss Jordan (the social worker)
Disclaimers: I don't own Once Upon a Time. Also, this story is a spin – off from the original "Thicker Than Water" written by La Lisboa.
So I promised I'd be back with more of these "voices," so here is another one. This one is about one of the antagonists for this story. I hope this puts her in a more positive light. (I love how the show makes all of the villains human, so I want to do that for mine, too. Of course, mine is in the "real" real world, so it's easier, I think, but still.)
Once again, this is a companion piece for "Thicker Than Water Part II." Please read that first, or you won't know who any of these characters are. I also recommend you read the original "Thicker Than Water" before any of my sequels.
(This takes place during the Charming family outing at the park)
Amanda Jordan didn't know what to make of the family she was watching. They were very loving, and seemed to really care about the boy she was in charge of. It was quite a change from a lot of her charge's biological families, who seemed more interested in drugs and alcohol than in their children. For that reason, Amanda was tempted to support them in the custody hearing. Her bosses liked to keep biological families together whenever possible, anyway.
At the same time, Amanda hadn't forgotten the boy's biological mother had given her baby up in a closed adoption. The boy had been raised by another woman. Technically, this boy's biological family wasn't his family. It was too bad the boy's mother didn't have any other family. She would've simply given the boy to his mother's relatives and everything would've been fine. Instead, the boy was in a foster home.
Amanda knew the foster home she'd placed Henry in was a good one. The Collards' were good foster parents and the Henry had other boys to play with there. But she knew Henry still didn't feel at home there. Most kids didn't, unfortunately. They knew the foster home wasn't' their house or their family, no matter how welcome everyone else tried to be.
She watched as Henry as he marched off and his future biological uncle followed him. Henry was obviously angry at Amanda. She was used to the kids in her charge being angry at her. No kid liked to be taken away from their home; no matter how much safer and better it was for them. Henry was no exception, obviously. Still…most of the kids accepted her by now, even if they weren't friendly with her. Henry still didn't. She wished he would realize Amanda was trying to look out for him. Henry was certainly an unusual child. What was it that he had said to her when they first met? "We're going to fight you by your rules?" What did he mean by that? Amanda had never met a child who would say things like that before.
Would it be best for Henry to be with people who understood him? He definitely seemed more comfortable with his biological family. Amanda watched as Henry and his future biological uncle came back her way, pretending to sword fight. Besides, the family was doing some of the things she had asked them to do. The biological mother, Emma Swan, had a job at the Hampden Police Department. It even came with a health insurance plan for Henry, if he was in Emma Swan's care. The others also had jobs.
Still, these people hadn't actually raised Henry. Could they really understand him as much as they appeared to? Besides, Amanda was still frustrated with Miss Swan. It had been about a month and she still hadn't taken care of the blood test Amanda had told her to take. Was this woman a procrastinator? Did Miss Swan like to blame others for her problems? (Amanda noticed Miss Swan always had a reason why the blood test wasn't done.) Could she really entrust a special boy like Henry to a woman who didn't understand priorities like that? How did Miss Swan expect the judge to respond when she went to court and the blood test still wasn't done?
Amanda had never felt more confused about a child's case before in her life.
Does that give you a better picture of the social worker? I wanted show she really is looking out for Henry's best interest, she just doesn't know what that is. (And she's really naïve about what's going on at the Collard's. But then, so are the Charming's in some ways.)